Su Yunluo only found it a little ridiculous.
But looking at Yuan Weining, something warm still quietly spread through her chest, like gentle water soaking into something dry and stiff.
Everything Yuan Weining said and did—it was all just to make her feel a little better.
Since that big argument that day, Su Yunluo hadn’t gone home on normal weekends anymore. Sometimes even on full weekends, she stayed at school alone.
During the day, she sat alone in an empty classroom studying. At night, she returned to a dorm where she was the only one left.
The whole dorm building was so quiet it felt like it had sunk to the bottom of the sea. Usually, only her window still had light. Once she turned the light off, darkness would rush in from all sides, filling the building like a sinking ship—and she was the only passenger who couldn’t escape.
It wasn’t that she wasn’t scared. It wasn’t that she didn’t regret it either.
Sometimes, when she opened her eyes in the dark, she understood clearly that this stubbornness of hers might be meaningless, even foolish—like self-harm, as if she had personally abandoned herself into endless loneliness.
But what would escaping even change?
Where else could she go?
She had nowhere else to go.
She had already been abandoned.
She used to think of herself as a kite—floating, drifting, but still tied to a string somewhere.
Only now did she realize she wasn’t even a kite.
No one was holding her string at all. She was more like duckweed, drifting wherever the water carried her, sinking wherever she landed, unnoticed by anyone.
She was the one who was stubborn.
The one who insisted on waiting in the same place.
Insisted on going back to that “home” that had never truly accepted her.
But in that home… who had ever really seen her?
That night, she had wandered outside aimlessly for half the night. As the streets grew emptier and emptier, she eventually became scared—and, somewhat helplessly, she went back home on her own.
When she returned in the middle of the night, no one showed concern. No one even thought she needed comfort.
The attention she got from her own family wasn’t even as much as what Yuan Weining gave her.
Yuan Weining could even tell she had lost weight.
Su Yunluo sniffed slightly and swallowed the bitterness in her throat, then gave Yuan Weining a small smile.
Seeing her expression ease a little, Yuan Weining became more excited and was about to continue refining her “plan to take down Xie Chen” when a shadow appeared at the stair corner.
“Chu Han?” Yuan Weining paused.
Chu Han smiled at them and walked up the stairs.
The two of them smiled back and, without even needing to say it, quietly stopped their conversation at the same time.
After all, it was a “secret plan”—not something for a third person to hear.
After Chu Han disappeared around the corner of the hallway, Yuan Weining quickly asked, “So? So? Isn’t my idea amazing?”
Seeing her bright, expectant eyes, Su Yunluo couldn’t bear to dampen her enthusiasm. She curved her lips slightly.
“Yeah. It’s good. Really… a very clever idea.”
After a pause, she looked at Yuan Weining and added sincerely,
“Weining, thank you.”
Neither of them knew that Chu Han, who had just walked past them, had the smile on her face fade the moment she turned away.
Back at her seat, Chu Han kept thinking about what she had just heard.
When she went upstairs earlier, she had immediately noticed Yuan Weining pulling Su Yunluo into a corner to whisper. She originally planned to wait for them to finish or just walk past, but the words “Xie Chen” drifted into her ears—and her steps had stopped without her realizing it.
She never expected Yuan Weining to give Su Yunluo such an idea.
She wasn’t someone who liked eavesdropping, and she didn’t care much about other people’s private matters. But just thinking about Xie Chen possibly being targeted like that made her chest tighten slightly.
That gentle, well-mannered boy… he hadn’t actually done anything wrong.
Yes, he shouldn’t have written such a bold challenge letter. But reality proved he truly had the ability to back it up.
Being excellent shouldn’t mean being punished.
Su Yunluo wasn’t a shallow person, but Chu Han could tell—her unwillingness toward Xie Chen had never really gone away. After her poor result in the midterm exam, there was no guarantee she wouldn’t act on impulse and actually accept Yuan Weining’s idea.
Chu Han had no doubt about how powerful that plan could be. She was right—if Su Yunluo really wanted to use some kind of “beauty strategy,” she could easily make a lot of boys fall for her.
But what about Xie Chen?
Would he fall into the trap?
He looked like someone very calm and self-controlled, but after all, he was still a sixteen- or seventeen-year-old boy. At that age, it was normal to be drawn to girls. If he really developed feelings and then got hurt badly—wouldn’t that ruin him? And someone that outstanding, too.
She didn’t know Su Yunluo and Yuan Weining that well. They were just classmates she had gotten to know for less than three months. If she went to warn him, not only would she have no real standing, he might not even listen to her.
But…
Maybe she should at least remind Xie Chen.
That thought stayed in her mind for many days, until the autumn sports meet.
The badminton singles match was scheduled for the afternoon of the second day, right at that sleepy hour. But the moment the announcer called out that Class Five’s player was Xie Chen, the usually lazy audience section noticeably stirred.
“Wow, it’s Xie God?”
“The top student is going to dominate another field?”
“That’s called being well-rounded, don’t you get it?”
But when they saw the two players step onto the court, most people felt that the one getting dominated this time might actually be the so-called top student.
Xie Chen’s opponent from Class Five was a muscular boy with a solid build. When he warmed up, his swings made sharp whooshing sounds—clearly someone who trained regularly in the gym. Compared to him, Xie Chen on the other side looked tall and refined, polite and clean, like he had just walked out of a library.
In the first few exchanges, the opponent attacked aggressively, forcing Xie Chen to stay on defense at the back court. A few sighs immediately came from the sidelines.
“Yeah, as expected… top students should just stick to exams.”
Fortunately, Xie Chen showed no panic at all. His breathing stayed steady, and every return felt like he was observing, adjusting, staying completely calm.
From the second game onward, the situation began to shift. Xie Chen still didn’t look aggressive, but it was as if he had already figured out the opponent’s weaknesses. His shots always landed in the most awkward spots. The “trained athlete,” despite all his strength, started to feel controlled by an invisible thread. The more he played, the more irritated he became. In the end, the score reached 14–17, and Class Five took the game back.
By the third game, Xie Chen fully opened up his attack. Every shot looked like a carefully planned trap—aiming at the body, forcing backhand returns, dropping shots diagonally. The opponent was completely dragged around the court, making mistake after mistake. Finally, Xie Chen jumped up and smashed the shuttle down with a clean, decisive finish. Two games to one.
The Class Five side instantly exploded in cheers. Li Zhe and a few others rushed down, surrounding Xie Chen as they high-fived and shouted.
“Brother Chen, that was so dirty! You were basically fishing in the first game!”
Someone opened their arms for a victory hug, but Xie Chen just smiled and stepped aside.
“Pass. I’m all sweaty.”
“Damn! We don’t mind, and you’re the one sweating the most!” Li Zhe pretended to be annoyed. “Why are you being picky now?”
“That’s exactly why I’m avoiding it,” Xie Chen said with a laugh.
He tossed the racket to Zhao Shuo in front of him, then tugged lightly at his damp collar. His white sports shirt clung slightly to his chest, outlining the relaxed lines of a teenage boy after exercise.
Standing there, smiling and talking with others, the usual scholarly calm around him had been washed away by sweat and movement, replaced by something lively and bright—an easy, open youthfulness.
In that moment, Chu Han’s vague worry and hesitation finally became clear.
She gritted her teeth and, when the crowd around Xie Chen thinned a little, gathered her courage and walked over.
“Xie Chen.”
He had just picked up a bottle of mineral water from his seat and looked up when he heard her voice, recognizing her as a girl from Class Six.
“Do you need something?” he asked politely, a hint of confusion in his eyes.
Chu Han lowered her voice. “I… I have something I need to tell you.”
She glanced at the group of noisy classmates beside him, making her meaning obvious.
Although slightly surprised, Xie Chen still nodded. He casually put the water back down and followed her toward a quieter spot behind the stands.
When they reached a relatively empty corner, Chu Han opened her mouth but still found it hard to say. Telling on someone like this was never something comfortable.
“Xie Chen, I think I need to warn you…”
Her voice was soft, but rushed, like if she paused even a little she would lose her courage.
“If… I mean if, Su Yunluo ever shows you that she likes you, please don’t believe it, and don’t fall for it easily. She doesn’t really like you. It’s just… she still wants to prove she’s not worse than you.”
She left out Yuan Weining’s more exaggerated words and only kept the core meaning.
Then she quickly added, “But please don’t be angry, and don’t think badly of Yunluo. She probably just got too affected by the big drop in her rankings in these two exams. She’s a bit emotional and acted on impulse…”
The air went quiet.
Chu Han quietly looked up at him.
There wasn’t much change on Xie Chen’s face. His beautiful phoenix eyes narrowed slightly as he looked at her calmly. Or maybe he wasn’t really looking at her at all—just processing what she had said.
Chu Han’s heart started beating faster. She could almost hear the faint rush of her own blood.
Then Xie Chen spoke.
His voice was a little low, unreadable.
“So what you’re saying is…” he asked slowly, “she’s planning to pursue me?”